Manufacture and use of metallic leaf



0a, 10, '1939. FT 2,175,492

MANUFACTURE AND USEOF METALLIC LEAF Original Fild Sept. 18, 193411271012 2 0; 2a; 67 as fifior nv Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE LEA Donald D. Swift, Hartford, Conn., assignor to M. Swift& Sons,

Incorporated, Hartford,

Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application September 18, 1934,Serial No. 744,476 Renewed March 4, 1939 3 Claims.

This application is a continuation in part of United States Patent No.1,974,883 granted Sept. 25, 1934, for Manufacture of gold leaf carrier.

My present invention relates to an improved 5 gold or metallic sheet orribbon, for use in the imprinting of ornamentation of leather, cloth, orother surfaces.

It is customary to utilize gold or metallic sheets or ribbons forstamping, embossing, and ornalO menting compressible surfaces such asleather, cloth, and the like, in order to reduce the number ofoperations required, to facilitate the application of the metal todelicate material, and to place the metal and the sizing therefor in asales 5 package that does not require excessive care and attention. Themetal ribbons now in use include a carrier strip of paper having acoating of beeswax, on which a layer of metal is placed, a sizing coatof varnish or the like being placed on the layer of metal.

It has been found that the ribbons of this type, while suitable for goodleather and other material capable of forming a satisfactory base forthe metal, do not produce satisfactory results on leathers of poorergrade that are course, porous,

or resilient, or on imitation leathers that are impregnated withpigments or fillers susceptible to heat, or on fabrics that haveresilient threads or that do not properly set off the thin metal. It isthe principal object of my invention to improve the metal sheet orribbon so as to produce a more perfect imprinting or ornamentation uponsuch materials, as Well as the better materials.

To this end, I have devised a novel method of manufacture of a novelmetal sheet or ribbon, which may be used in place of the present type,but which includes additional matter to coact with the material tobeimprinted or ornamented so as to overcome the deficiencies of thematerial and to enhance the appearance and the life of the imprinting orornamentation.

I have found it advisable to have this additional matter ofsubstantially the same color as the metal it is to be used with, thusintensifying the color of the metal in the finished work. The

additional matter may be of natural color, or

may be artificially colored in any well-known manner. I have termed theloading of the sizing with a colored comminuted material,pigmentpriming.

Moreover, the layer of metal is at present formed by beating a square ofthe metal, or by preparing a base to receive electrolytically depositedmetal. The beating of the metal squares is expensive; the use ofelectrolytically deposited metal has also been relatively expensive, asit has heretofore been found necessary to deposit the metal, for examplegold, on a silver strip, which silver strip is dissolved in a chemicalsolution, the gold then being picked up in film form 5 on a Waxed paperto affect the transfer.

It is further object of my invention to electrolytically deposit metalon a metal base strip, and thus form a metal sheet or ribbon, the metalstrip forming the base of the sheet or ribbon. This method of formingthe sheet or ribbon eliminates the expense of forming the silver backingstrips, of the chemicals and of reclaiming the dissolved silver.Moreover, there is an elimination of working time needed for thedissolving, and there is a great saving of gold or other metal, as thetransfer operation requires a heavier metal film than is necessary for adirect electrolytic deposit.

The use of a metal base sheet or ribbon provides a more effectivearrangement for imprinting; the present imprinting includes an initialmetal impressing operation, the backing then being removed and asubsequent burnishing operation utilized to obtain the desiredmirror-like finish. It is an additional object of my invention tocomplete the imprinting operation in one operation by utilizing a metalbase sheet or ribbon as the metal base provides the desired mirrorlikefinish obtained by metal-to-metal stamping, in one stamping operation.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in View, theinvention consists of a novel method of manufacture of metal sheets andribbons, a novel product, and a novel method of applying the metalsheets and ribbons, as more fully disclosed in the detailed descriptionfollowing, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, and as morespecifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a metal sheet or ribbon made inaccordance with the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a modified con- 45 struction therefor.

In manufacturing the novel product, a base strip 1 of metal, preferablyaluminum, is provided with a coating 2 of a releasable adherent andburnishing material such as beeswax; a layer 5 3 of gold or other metalis electrolytically deposited on this coating, or is spread on thecoating if in leaf form, and a final coat 4 consists of an intimatemixture of sizing 5, such as French varnish, and filler material 6, themost suitable 55 material being a comminuted material, such as ametallic oxide, of the same general color as the metal, yellow ochre forexample being preferred for XXD gold leaf.

In preparing the completed sheet of XXD gold leaf, for example, the baseis first coated with wax, one way of coating comprising spreading liquidwax obtained by dissolving beeswax in carbon tetra-chloride or a similarsolvent; the waxed carrier then receives the metallic leaf or theelectrolytically deposited metal, and the pigment primed sizing is thenapplied to the metal. either manually, or by running the sheet over asizing roller. Preferably, the pigment, such as yellow ochre should beconcentrated at the outer surface, and it may therefore be desirable, incertain instances, to apply the sizing and then the pigment; inpractice, however, a thorough mixture has been found satisfactory.

The resulting novel sheet or strip is smooth and pliable, non-sticky,can be handled without loss of gold or metal, may be made in any widthor length, and contains all the ingredients necessary for perfectimprinting and ornamentation.

Although diiferent fillers may be used, such as other clays and metallicoxides in comminuted form with natural or artificial color, a yellowochre having a suitable tinge has been found very satisfactory for gold,as it improves the applica tion of the gold and compensates fordeficiencies of the material to which the gold is applied. Certaingrades of titanium oxide have also been found satisfactory. The yellowochre, because it is comminuted, fills up all pores and interstices incoarse material, cooperates with the sizing to matte material havingresilient threads or material that is coarse grained, forms a smooth,even surface for the gold, and has sufiicient opaqueness to serve as abacking and thus enhance the final appearance of the imprinted orburnished metal. Moreover, the fine yellow ochre has a heat insulatingeffect and also mixes with and apparently absorbs surface material whichhas a tendency to melt or run when sub- 1 jected to the impressing orburnishing of the heated imprinting dies. This useful effect increasesthe latitude of heating for the die, thus producing better burnishing,and opens up a wide range of artificial leathers and other compositionmaterial that have low melting point pigments and fillers. It has beenfound possible to obtain satisfactory gold applications, because of theyellow ochre, with die temperatures as low as 140 F. and as high as 300F., the present range being from 160 F. to 250 F.

The advantageous results produced by the novel strip or sheet thusinclude a better effect because the base for receiving the metal is improved, the metal is backed, a higher burnishing temperature may beused, and a clearer cleancut impression is obtained, a more permanenteffect because deficiencies in the material are compensated for and thematerial is matted to prevent breaking up of the imprinted metal layer,and an increase in the available materials to which metal can beadvantageously applied because the filler has an insulating and anabsorbing eifect.

Moreover, the comminuted filler being of the same general color as themetal, builds up the background so as to remedy and to compensate forthinness of the metal, thus eliminating rejections and seconds.

The metal strip base is sometimes difiicult to wind, as it has a certainamount of resilience and is easily bent and twisted in handling. It istherefore advantageous to use a flexible backing l of paper or the like,see Fig. 2, thus eliminating winding troubles. The paper backing may beapplied to the metal base strip in any desired manner, as by glueing, orby forming the metal strip directly on the paper backing by electrolyticdeposit or the like.

The use of a metal base greatly simplifies the imprinting operation, asa single impression or stamping provides the mirrorlike finish on themetal layer as the result of the burnishing effect obtained by themetal-to-metal contact of the aluminum strip on the metal. The cost ofimprinting is thus greatly reduced.

While I have described a specific metal sheet or ribbon construction,and specific methods of forming and of using the same, it is evidentthat the materials used for the base strip, the metal, the filler, andthe releasable composition and sizing, may be changed to other materialshaving similar physical and chemical characteristics, and that themethod of formation of the metal sheet or ribbon, and of its use, may bechanged to suit these changes in characteristics, within the spirit andthe scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a metal sheet or ribbon, a base strip of aluminum, a coat ofreleasable composition thereon, a layer of metal on said coat, andsizing on said layer containing a substantial amount of comminutedmaterial of substantially the same color as the color of the metal, anda flexible paper support in direct contact with said aluminum basestrip.

2. In a metal sheet or ribbon, a base strip of aluminum, a coat of waxthereon, a layer of gold on said coat and sizing on said layercontaining a substantial amount of comminuted yellow ochre, and a paperbacking in direct contact with said aluminum base strip.

3. In a metal sheet or ribbon, a base strip of aluminum, a coat of waxthereon, a layer of gold on said coat and sizing on said layercontaining a substantial amount of comminuted titanium oxide, and apaper backing in direct contact with said aluminum base strip.

DONALD D. SWIFT.

